NotebookCHECK - Notebook Forum

Just a quick note, while you say that the 180W power supply is adequate for the 970M version of this laptop, it is not adequate for the 980M version.  For the 980M version the supplied 180W is not enough, and it has been proven that benchmark and gaming performance is better when attaching a 240W power supply to the laptop as discussed in the following thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-17-r2-benchmark-thread.770320/page-22#post-9936562
You can ask for a 240W power supply to be shipped with your laptop rather than the 180W version - you have to ask as a special request, and this has been promised by a senior manager of Alienware in his postings on notebookreview.com forums.

Are the graphics amp benchmarks using the laptop lcd or external monitor? I have not been able to figure out if the display signal from the graphics amp gpu to the laptop lcd is using optimus/enduro through the intel gpu. If that is the case, the display signal has to be through the same 4x pci-e lanes. With the 4x pci-e already a significant bandwidth reduction over 16x, adding 1080p or 4k display signal to that would hurt the performance even more so. If it is true, we would be seeing a noticeable drop in performance when using the internal lcd over an external monitor with the graphics amp.

Can you clarify on this in your review? Perhaps you can run test when both using the internal lcd and an external monitor. Much appreciated.

This is possibly the lowest configuration of the Alienware 15. Please do a review for the high end model with 980M and 4K touchscreen. Need to see if they got the 4K scaling correctly and performance of a 980M at 4K resolution.

Does the m.2 interface for SDD support PCIe? Or is it only mSATA for both m.2 interfaces?

Thanks!

@Lord K:  gaming performance at 4K resolution will be pathetic!  980M is not good enough, neither is 980M sli for a 4K resolution - unless you're talking about really old games where you'd get 100s of fps at 1080p.  With a 4K screen you'd end up doing all your gaming at a lower than native resolution, which decreases picture quality, e.g. 1080p on a 4K screen looks worse than 1080p on a 1080p screen - more blurriness.

Quote from: Thin & Light Garbage on February 26, 2015, 09:09:06
@Lord K:  gaming performance at 4K resolution will be pathetic!  980M is not good enough, neither is 980M sli for a 4K resolution - unless you're talking about really old games where you'd get 100s of fps at 1080p.  With a 4K screen you'd end up doing all your gaming at a lower than native resolution, which decreases picture quality, e.g. 1080p on a 4K screen looks worse than 1080p on a 1080p screen - more blurriness.

Thats simply not true. In fact nearly every modern title can be played in 4K with high details. Most of these 4K tests have been done with Anti-Aliasing enabled. But tell me: What do i need AA for while playing in 4K? ;)

Quote from: Kommando on February 26, 2015, 18:52:38

Quote from: Thin & Light Garbage on February 26, 2015, 09:09:06
@Lord K:  gaming performance at 4K resolution will be pathetic!  980M is not good enough, neither is 980M sli for a 4K resolution - unless you're talking about really old games where you'd get 100s of fps at 1080p.  With a 4K screen you'd end up doing all your gaming at a lower than native resolution, which decreases picture quality, e.g. 1080p on a 4K screen looks worse than 1080p on a 1080p screen - more blurriness.

Thats simply not true. In fact nearly every modern title can be played in 4K with high details. Most of these 4K tests have been done with Anti-Aliasing enabled. But tell me: What do i need AA for while playing in 4K? ;)

It simply is true, at least provide some evidence to support what you say.  Desktop GTX 970sli isn't even enough for good 4K gaming in modern titles, see the following graphs (no taxing forms of AA used in those examples):
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-970-sli-review,22.html
GTX 980M sli is nowhere near as fast as desktop GTX 970 sli, therefore 980M sli isn't enough for  modern gaming at good frame rates at 4K.  Simple as that really.

4K gaming is really demanding, even for desktop hardware, and properly decent 4K gaming isn't possible even with desktop hardware if you want high details and high frame rates.  With desktop GTX 980 tri sli you can get pretty close to a consistent 60fps at 4K in most games, but 980M sli is far far away from that kind of performance level:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/geforce-gtx-980-sli-review,23.html

980M sli is not sufficient for good frame rate in modern games at 4K resolution.

@ Thin & Light Garbage: I am aware of that fact, I merely wish to know the performance specifics at 4k resolution.
As for 4k screen option itself, I'm still in favour of it. With an Alienware Graphics Amplifier, desktop GPUs 2 generations from now would more than likely support 4k gaming. In addition to that, the upcoming Windows 10 is being fitted for proper resolution scaling, courtesy of high-res tablets and hybrids nowadays. I see no reason to choose 1080p over 4k if one has the money to splurge.

Please explain exactly why 1080p@4k < 1080p@1080p.

@Lord K:

(You weren't really aware of it, because you said 4K gaming would be possible at High Details with a 980M, which I then showed you was not possible.)

You asked me about why 1080p on a 4K screen is going to look worse than 1080p on a 1080p screen.  Even with the 4K screen being a perfect multiple of 1080p, due to the way the pixels are mapped it won't maintain the same clarity, there is still a level of 'approximation' that occurs, it doesn't just multiply each pixel by 4 like you might expect.  This has also been reported in forums where people have compared a native 1080p image vs a 1080p image displayed on a 4K screen.  An enthusiast on notebookreview forums who had looked into the technical details of 1080p being displayed on 4K explained that it's not the simple quadrupling of pixels that you would expect - if it did that then it would look the same as native 1080p, which would have been OK.  He used a specific technical term to describe the process of this upscaling, which I can't remember now, but it involved approximation & averaging within the upscaling process which resulted in some blurriness being introduced into the image in comparison to a native 1080p image.  Long & short of it is that 1080p image looks better on a 1080p screen than it does on a 4K screen, and for a gaming laptop so it would follow a 1080p screen would be the best buy for most people.

If you define 60 fps as Entry-Condition, THEN its tough. But... errr... i just need 30+.

So thanks for providing evidence for my statement. :)
I just need to disable AAA and Metro would run smooth in +30 fps. Additionally i'd disable Motion Blur (don't like the effect) and would get very good framerates even on an GTX 970M. The need for 16xAF is questionable, too.

@Thin & Light Garbage:
"(You weren't really aware of it, because you said 4K gaming would be possible at High Details with a 980M, which I then showed you was not possible.)"
^ Yes, I was aware of it. I wanted to know the performance of a 980M on 4k. This includes its graphical performance in games as well as editing 4k videos and photo editing software rendering. It is definitely not the same as "4K gaming would be possible at High Details with a 980M". Stop putting words in my mouth, and forming incorrect conjectures from your personal misinterpretations.

"You asked me about why 1080p on a 4K screen is going to look worse than 1080p on a 1080p screen.  Even with the 4K screen being a perfect multiple of 1080p, due to the way the pixels are mapped it won't maintain the same clarity, there is still a level of 'approximation' that occurs, it doesn't just multiply each pixel by 4 like you might expect.  This has also been reported in forums where people have compared a native 1080p image vs a 1080p image displayed on a 4K screen.  An enthusiast on notebookreview forums who had looked into the technical details of 1080p being displayed on 4K explained that it's not the simple quadrupling of pixels that you would expect - if it did that then it would look the same as native 1080p, which would have been OK.  He used a specific technical term to describe the process of this upscaling, which I can't remember now, but it involved approximation & averaging within the upscaling process which resulted in some blurriness being introduced into the image in comparison to a native 1080p image. Long & short of it is that 1080p image looks better on a 1080p screen than it does on a 4K screen, and for a gaming laptop so it would follow a 1080p screen would be the best buy for most people."
^ Your argument has a fallacy of circular reasoning: Since a 1080p image looks better on a 1080p screen than a 4k one (you still don't have a technical argument for this LOL), it follows that 1080p gaming sequence also automatically looks better. Ridiculous actually, considering that motion blur effect makes it look the same. The background visuals are on a completely different level when playing at 4k. Your argument lacks authenticity and only depicts quite clearly that you haven't played at 4k yourself. As such, I don't think you're qualified to comment about 4k gaming.

Additionally, you jump to conclusions too quickly, without gathering all the knowledge necessary to make a sound and balanced judgement. It is quite obvious to me that your judgement can be deemed 'irrational' and hence has zero value on a tech website.


@Kommando:
That's exactly what I find so ridiculous. It seems people don't think that they can dial down the settings at 4k as well. On top of that, they have an unhealthy obsession for 60fps. Seriously, I once encountered a dumbass who was moaning about how his machine plays Bioshock Infinite at "only 55fps", LOL.

@anyone thinking of buying a 4K gaming notebook:  don't do it unless you want 4K for work applications, for gaming it's not a viable option unless you're playing old games like counter strike source of something - let alone for games of the future - the GPU just does not have enough power to run games properly at 4K.  Save your money and buy a 1080p gaming notebook if you want the laptop just for gaming.

Yeah, if you have no arguments, just repeat your statement. Best reaction possible!  ???

Best arguments against 4K on a 15" Laptop:
They just cost too much, may lead to some bigger or minor scaling problems in windows and have no real benefit if you have a decent distance to your laptop (Compare to 4K @ mobile phones). Additionally they draw a significantly more power than FHD-Screens.

and (to add a joke) you really cant use 4xDSR on a 4K-Display. :)

I wish someone could do the test between the Alienware 15 @1080p display versus AW 15 @4k display downscales to 1080p in a gaming session

I want to buy the 4k version but I also want to be sure that downscale (with perfect multiple like 1080 and 720) doesn't cause any trouble.

OMG Guys, look at the "Keyboard screenshot" under Touchpad chapter.  :o   I would not pay a single dollar for a PC with such TERRIBLE BACKLIGHT BLEED! I dont think we should discuss processors and GPUs here, as they are the same everywhere ... but what do you do with a 2000EUR PC when trying to play dark shaded games or simply watch videos in the dark? This screen is absolutely useless!  Sad ....   :(

Damn, what a load of bullshit panels on all these new laptops.
I thought the light bleeding was annoying on my new Asus ROG G751GJY,
but this raises it to another level.

How can the manufacturers live with this?
Do we just have to accept this is becoming the new standard?
Really, really sad.

Quote from: George75 on March 05, 2015, 11:22:35
OMG Guys, look at the "Keyboard screenshot" under Touchpad chapter.  :o   I would not pay a single dollar for a PC with such TERRIBLE BACKLIGHT BLEED! I dont think we should discuss processors and GPUs here, as they are the same everywhere ... but what do you do with a 2000EUR PC when trying to play dark shaded games or simply watch videos in the dark? This screen is absolutely useless!  Sad ....   :(

This is a photography issue with long exposure times. You won't see any issues in real life. Just look at all the other screenshots in normal light conditions, they are just fine.

Quote from: John Doe on March 13, 2015, 17:44:59

Quote from: George75 on March 05, 2015, 11:22:35
OMG Guys, look at the "Keyboard screenshot" under Touchpad chapter.  :o   I would not pay a single dollar for a PC with such TERRIBLE BACKLIGHT BLEED! I dont think we should discuss processors and GPUs here, as they are the same everywhere ... but what do you do with a 2000EUR PC when trying to play dark shaded games or simply watch videos in the dark? This screen is absolutely useless!  Sad ....   :(

This is a photography issue with long exposure times. You won't see any issues in real life. Just look at all the other screenshots in normal light conditions, they are just fine.

Dude, you definitely have no idea what backlight bleed means .... long exposure times HAHAHAHAH, man. You should stop commenting when you have no clue.
Backlight bleed is usually visible only in dark with dark images. I am sure you dont know, but this level of backlight bleed  is very frustrating at some games or when you simply watch movies with black stripes on top and bottom. This screen is terrible.

The biggest problem to me with this laptop is the 16GB barrier.  IF I am not mistaken, the most memory you can have is 16GB .  If I am buying a computer to use for the next 2-3 years, I expect to be able to upgrade my memory.  Forgot about running VM's and really utilizing multiple apps at the same time.  By next year 16GB will be the bare minimum.  Right now, 8GB barely gets you by..

What were they thinking? Thats horrible for a 2015 laptop. I considered buying it until I saw that.  I am going with a  Sager/Clevo.

Quote from: Fix on March 01, 2015, 22:34:25
I wish someone could do the test between the Alienware 15 @1080p display versus AW 15 @4k display downscales to 1080p in a gaming session

I want to buy the 4k version but I also want to be sure that downscale (with perfect multiple like 1080 and 720) doesn't cause any trouble.

I just got AW 15 from costco, the 4k version for $1899. Let me know what kind of test you want to be performed. BTW, I've Civ BE, SC 2013 only.

I just got this 15' 4k Touch from costco couple of days back. Laptop is good, but, Win 8.1 doesn't look bad the issue was with games and other 3rd party software/games doesn't scale for 4k. BTW, i tested only couple of games like Civ Beyond Earth, Simcity 2013.

Though games are working fine, didn't check with multiple settings, but, with Low/Med. both games worked fine, but, the Game menus were really really small in 15' screen, so no point it using 4k for Games.

So, this forced me to scale down to 1920 or 2048 (1 HD / 2 HD). Though Win 8.1 Display settings was set to Extra Extra Large (250% of default) by Alienware by default, I've changed it to Medium (125%) and 2HD settings (i.e. 2048).

We covered 1 issue as of now;
- 4k not supported/working in game menus & 3rd party Apps

Next is the Keyboard in 15', has those game buttons on the left, which is kind of awkward, not sure I'll be used to it in next few days, but, it may not be good for a lot as the keyboard actual col (the Esc key column) starts after this (see keyboard screenshot) Game keys. I think in 17' these Game keys are above Numpad, so 17 may not have this issue.

Now, we've 2nd issue covered;
- Game keys on the left most 1st column puts typing kind of tough and our fingers goes to lop left for Esc key (which is actually one of the Game key), our fingers go to Caps key, but it's actually 3rd game key. So, we need to change our typing patter, which might be an issue for those planning to use it more for typing

Third issue is Overheating. You know it feels like your hands are on some heated plate always. I've done some tweaking to kick start the fan (though fan noise will be there), still, the keyboard is kind of warm and bottom was like a oven, can't dare to touch it. Might be the biggest issue I read all these AW are having as a common issue.

Fourth is IPS panel, not your regular TN display. IPS display gives is good color angles while watching movies, but it has some glaring effect compared to our regular laptop TN panel. All touch laptops (almost all) will have IPS to enable touch, so if you like touch screen, you've to live with IPS, with slight glaring effect. Colors in pictures, movies will be really good in IPS compared to TN panel, but TN laptop screen usually will not be suited to watch movies from angles.

Few pros/cons in general;
Pros
- Future proof for 4k video/movie viewing (hope we'll have more content in 2015/16), but can't use it now as I don't see any 4k video / movie in net as well
- 4k can be switched to 2HD and use Win 8.1 as of now, once Win 10 becomes avl, issue might be resolved (not so distant future, it's just matter of few months)
- Games can be perfectly played (those 2 games) in 2HD settings, but 4k game menus will be horribly small
- Those 2 games work really smooth in Ultra settings, without any issues in 2HD or 1 HD settings, though in 4k it works upto Low/Med settings without any issues
- m.2 ssd with 256 mb for OS drive, another free slot is also there for future proof
- IPS display is good for viewing movies in angles, but, old movies i feel TN display is good due to the fact IPS makes red too much red

Cons
- Overheating
- Keyboard with Game keys will have some issue
- 3rd party app scalling will be an issue if you want to keep using 4k always (i changed to 2HD not using 4k for now, until I put Win 10 and other apps support it)
- Max RAM is 16GB, but, you may not need more unless you wan't to run VMs on this for Development
- IPS glaring effect might not be liked by all, I need to see, as this is 1st IPS for me as well.

If someone can tell me how to overcome this Overheating issue, I'll keep it, otherwise, not sure. ASUS laptops are usually cooler (my old one), not sure I'll keep this AW or go back to ASUS.

 :) This looks like a great Laptop, however I am looking for a removable battery since my computer works about 20 hrs a day, so even though I use laptops I have them plugged in most of the time. Does anyone thinks I'll be OK with this one or will I kill the battery in no time?

Also if you have any suggestions (spec and price wise) similar to this laptop but with removable battery I will gladly appreciate it.

I don't mind about GPU a lot since I won't be using it for gaming that much, but I've found that most Gaming laptops meet my needs specs wise.

Thanks a lot!

Yea, it's all marketing that you need the Graphics Amplifier installed in order to overclock the CPU beyond regular turboboost.  It doesn't have to do with the temperature of the CPU at all, nor power. Because it *should* be able to dynamically underclock, and undervolt cores of the GPU and CPU  (and shut off portions of it) if the power requirements exceed the 180w or 240w of the AC adapter. Basically bring the CPU back to normal speeds (disregard BIOS overclocking config) if power is being exceeded and go further is power if still exceeded. This can be accomplished in software (think hwinfo64 monitoring temps and power and acting on it) or more of a hardware solution.

But instead they require the GA. And now with the refreshed late 2015 15/17 Alienware laptops with a 'Dynamic Overclocking' system, it should definitely not lock out the overclocking option in the BIOS with the GA not installed, or not need the settings at all and max out the turboboost whenever possible on it's own. But who knows until someone tests it out.

Everyone keeps saying the back light bleed is bad. I have this laptop and there is 0% bleed. I am very disappointed that people comment on things that are NOT true. Like one person commented and said "it would be horrible for me as i am a photographer and need a good screen." I just have to say if you are a photo editor you should (easily) be able to see that its just glare created by the camera focusing on the keyboard. You can see it on the alien logo as well.

At night this screen is extremely nice to look at and has absolutely 0% latency, as if the screen refresh rate was 160Hz instead of 60Hz. Making this one of the better 60Hz screens in my opinion.

-Danky-_-Stanky   

I've been using it for a year now. The laptop's really good. However, after the windows 10 update, the drivers kind of get screwed up and crash a lot. Re-installed them a couple of times, but now everything seems to work fine, with very rare crashes like any other laptop would have. For those who are looking to buy one, just keep in mind that the Dell service is really very poor. I spent a total of £111 just on calls. Their pro care is really bad. One of the customer care callers even uninstalled my WiFi and Ethernet driver by accident, that's how inexperienced they are. No doubt the laptop's really good performance wise, but keep in mind customer care is really essential and that dell has a shitty one.

hello, i wan't to know what motherboard has this alienware 15, i needed no change mine because the other one isn't working anymore :'v